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Opponent Reliance
Opponent Reliance is a term used for referring for various card effects that only rely on various game elements from your opponent to trigger, such as a civilization, race or other characteristics and game options. Details It basically refers to cards that rely on various strategies/civilizations/races/etc to work. This can give the card an edge over that element, but against decks that don't use those elements they simply clog up valuable deck space. This is usually shunned by players and unless there's a reasonable reason that the card will be used in competitive play, (Such as Joan of Arc, Goddess of Victory which does not have an opponent reliant ability as it's only ability, or Storm Javelin Wyvern which makes an excellent counter against Light and Water system creatures) it is usually not recommended to use those cards there. This is due to the following reasons; *There is no way opponents will use the same type of deck over and over; For example, while one has an anti-Light civilization card in their deck expecting an opponent using said civilization, they might be running into a Light and Darkness civilization using opponent that have only a small concentration of light cards in their deck, an opponent with a Light Darkness Fire deck, or even a Light Water Darkness Fire Nature deck. *Cards of said civilization may have counters against these strategies; For example, an Amnis, Holy Elemental used against a Darkness Civilization deck may find itself reverse-countered by creatures with Slayer. However, some opponent-reliant cards, such as Alphadios, Lord of Spirits or Psychic Suva, the Awakened God have effects that affect all civilizations other than their civilization of choice, usually their own civilization, or affect all creatures aside of a specific race, such as Gods. These are considered extremely powerful against decks that don't use that civilization of choice, usually ending up in instant defeat. However, against opponents that use that various civilization or race of choice, (Such as Dorballom, Lord of Demons versus Mono-Darkness Control) They are usually useless. However, mono civilization decks (Until Dragon Saga) and decks that concentrate on races such as Gods are few and far between so it usually does not matter. There is also a kind of opponent reliance where the card is reliant on the opponent's movements, such as Jester Brain which allows the player to draw 3 cards which cancel when the opponent returns up to 3 shields to his hand, 1 per card is drawn. While a 3 shield burn is generally good, the opponent may choose not to return any shields to his hand which prolongs defeat, or he may just return those shields to his hand only to use a bunch of Shield Triggers which usually leads to the player's immediate defeat. As they give an unpredictable advantage, they are usually shunned by players. Examples Civilization Based Reliance Race Based Reliance Notes *Abilities that rely on Blockers to trigger can also be considered opponent reliance as not all decks have Blockers. However, since Blockers are more common than various races or civilizations in competitive play and are an important role in gameplay if the player wishes to play in a middle-to-slow paced game, the reliance is smaller than said gaming elements. Cards that give your opponent's creatures Blocker, such as Diablost, the Shady General and Iron Rose, Full Metal can help increase the range, however. *ZERO is a keyword built completely on opponent reliance, as it is not effective against decks that simply ramp. However, it can be lethal against decks that use Revolution Change or Invasion frequently. Category:Gameplay